The engineer appeared relieved when Rath re-emerged. ‘Can I get back to work now?’ he asked.
‘Be my guest. So long as you don’t touch this elevator.’
The man toddled off and Rath lit another cigarette. His gaze fell on two narrow, high windows that looked onto the outside. One of them was slightly ajar. Kirie followed as he went across. He took out a handkerchief and opened the window fully. Outside was a kind of balcony, a walkway with a stone balustrade that lined the building.
He was about to climb out when he heard someone cough behind him and spun around. Dressed in a light summer suit, looking spruce and freshly coiffed, was Richard Fleischer, director of Haus Vaterland. The guard below must have sounded the alarm, or perhaps the engineer had told him he couldn’t access the lift.
‘Inspector! I must say I’m rather surprised to see you here. What are you doing?’
‘My job.’
‘Yesterday you hampered business, today you are preventing necessary repair work! Sneaking through the back entrance like that. Who do you think you are?’
‘Would you have preferred me to use the front entrance and tell everyone I was from Homicide?’
Fleischer made a face as if he had bitten into a lemon. ‘No need to go shouting from the rooftops. It was an accident, after all.’
‘Wrong! It now looks as if we are dealing with a premeditated killing. I can tell you already that in such cases CID makes no allowances for operating procedures, nor for your good reputation.’
‘But who would want to kill Herr Lamkau on our premises?’
‘You have no idea?’
‘Of course not. You think that one of my employees would beat a delivery man to death?’
‘Herr Lamkau wasn’t beaten to death.’
A few waiters came past and gazed in bewilderment at their director, standing in front of the freight elevators in conversation with a stranger and his dog.
‘Be that as it may.’ Fleischer lowered his voice. ‘Now, if we must continue this discussion, I would prefer if we did so in my office.’
‘I’m afraid I’m to wait here until my colleagues arrive.’
‘Your colleagues?’ The prospect of more police officers descending on his premises hardly filled him with joy.
‘Forensic technicians,’ Rath said simply, turning to the window once more. ‘We have to examine a possible escape route.’
‘That takes you to the balcony. You can’t get down to the street from there, at most back into the building somewhere.’
Rath offered Fleischer an Overstolz, convinced that smoking together was the best way to dispel animosity or suspicion.
‘I get the impression your building is well guarded,’ he said, giving the director a light.
‘Oh yes, our people are on the ball.’
‘Where, would you say, is it possible to enter or leave unnoticed?’
‘I would say, nowhere.’ Fleischer drew on his cigarette, and gestured with his head towards the open window. ‘Unless you’re a cat burglar.’
‘How many people work here? Two, three hundred?’
‘Three hundred?’ The director gave a pitying smile. ‘There are around four hundred waiters in the service department alone, then in the central kitchen upstairs eighty chefs alongside one hundred and twenty temporary workers. We cater for around a million guests a year. All in all, we have some eleven hundred employees working around the clock. We’re almost a miniature city; we even have our own waste incineration.’
‘With so many employees, it wouldn’t be possible for you to know each one personally.’
‘Of course not.’
‘How many people were on duty yesterday morning when Herr Lamkau was murdered?’
‘You ought to know better than me, seeing as you rounded them all up. Fifty, sixty perhaps, if you count the technical staff, and security. There was hardly anyone from service.’
Their conversation was interrupted when two men in grey overalls emerged from the stairwell. Rath immediately recognised them as forensic technicians and pointed them towards the battered elevator door. ‘Take a look at the window over there afterwards. See if you can’t secure some fingerprints on the handles and check if there are any marks on the balcony outside.’
The men nodded, unpacked their suitcases and got to work. Rath watched them for a time. ‘What do you hope to find?’ the director asked at last.
‘Information concerning the murderer’s escape route,’ Rath said. ‘Perhaps his identity too.’
‘I just hope you don’t make too much of a fuss. I could do without the press.’
‘Do you have a medical department here?’
Fleischer looked surprised. ‘A first-aid room with several mattresses. For emergencies. Why do you ask?’
‘Do you keep medicine there? Hypodermic syringes?’
‘Naturally. Should I draw up a list?’
‘Please. Today, if possible. Have someone you trust check all your medical cupboards. We need to know if anything’s missing.’ The director nodded like an obedient schoolboy. ‘Did you know Herr Lamkau?’ Rath asked suddenly. ‘Personally, I mean.’
‘No.’ Fleischer’s response was immediate. ‘I saw him yesterday for the first time.’
‘Were any of your employees privately acquainted with him?’
‘Not that I’m aware of, but with such a large staff I couldn’t say for certain.’
‘What surprises me is that Herr Lamkau made the delivery in person. To say nothing of the time of day.’
Fleischer shrugged and stubbed out his cigarette. ‘Owners do sometimes deliver themselves. The timings vary according to how suppliers plan their route. I’m sure Herr Riedel will be able to tell you more.’
‘Herr Riedel,’ Rath repeated, pulling out his pad.
‘Alfons Riedel. One of our buyers.’
‘Is Herr Riedel on site?’
‘I’m afraid not. It’s Sunday. Purchasing is closed.’
‘I’ll be back tomorrow,’ Rath said. ‘Please let Herr Riedel know.’
Director Fleischer was still smiling, but it looked as if he had developed a severe toothache.
The Lamkau firm had its headquarters in Tempelhof, beside the canal. The company buildings had an organised look about them, with half a dozen or so newly cleaned delivery vans arranged neatly outside. Rath drew up alongside one of the vehicles as it gleamed spotlessly in the sun. In comparison, his dull, dusty Buick, which he had since collected from Kreuzberg, was like a street urchin that had wandered into a group of confirmands. The vehicles were similar to the van discovered yesterday outside Haus Vaterland, which was still in the hands of Forensics. Some advertised Lamkau’s liquor dealership and Mathée Luisenbrand; others promoted Danziger Goldwasser or Treuburger Bärenfang.
Rath got out and took Kirie by the lead. Walking to the residential building, he realised the hairs on her neck were standing on end. She issued a soft yip. ‘Easy, old girl,’ he said. ‘Easy.’
Then he gave a start himself, for behind him he heard loud barking and the rattle of a chain unfurling at rapid speed. He turned around and saw a whopping great brute making straight for him. Instinctively he took a few steps to one side. Just as the dog reached him, the chain tightened and held the beast in check. The barking didn’t stop, however, as the guard dog threw its entire weight against the choker, and continued rasping at the visitors. In the meantime Kirie issued her own response, so that the Sunday afternoon peace and quiet was now well and truly destroyed.
The front door opened and a maid looked at him. She had to shout to make herself heard above the din.